It hasn't been very busy here at the Assembly lately. The frenzy of planning World AIDS Day is over so people are relaxing a little. The DAC and I have been planning to conduct some field visits to area Community-Based Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Youth Groups. We have two motives for these visits. One is to have all of the HIV/AIDS stakeholders in the District (so that would be all of the organizations I just listed above) complete a survey indicating what activities they do. The other reason is to do GPS mapping. The first purpose is fairly easy and we will probably be able to complete it within a matter of months. The second purpose is proving a bit tricky.
The National AIDS Commission (NAC) has asked all of the District AIDS Coordinators to use GPS mapping to find out the location of all of the HIV/AIDS stakeholders in their respective districts. This is a great idea, however, not all districts have access to a GPS device, and even if they do not all of them have someone available who knows how to operate it. Also, there are almost 200 different stakeholders in Thyolo and I'm sure it's something similar in all of the other districts. So that means that it will take a lot of money to provide fuel and per diem for the people conducting the mapping. As I mentioned a while ago NAC doesn't really have any money so they are not a realiable source of funding.
To futher complicate the issue, there is currently a fuel shortage in Malawi. I was told this is due to a lack of foreign currency in the banks. I think that means that they use the foreign currency to buy fuel from other countries. So no money = no fuel. And no fuel means that we cannot go into the field. I did submit a budget to the District Commisioner (DC) to cover the cost of fuel and per diem for us to visit a few organizations. The DC accepted the budget, so now we just wait for the fuel shortage to end.
I finally submitted the grant for the nutrition training. We are hoping to have it in 6 weeks so hopefully it will be approved either before Christmas or right after. The training will be for 2 weeks: the last week of January and the first week of February. We will then monitor the nurses to see if they actually practice the techniques they learn in the training. They will fill out a short monitoring tool after each field visit and at the end of each week I will collect the forms and enter the information into a database. This will be done for only three months. Well, at least I will only be collecting the information for 3 months because I need to wrap up the grant before I leave in August. I will leave the database and all of the information with MSF and the district hospital when I leave and if they want to continue collecting data they can.
Right now everyone at the Assembly is waiting for the President to declare the offical government dates for the Christmas holidays. I guess people don't really know the dates of their vacation until right before it happens. It's kind of like a Christmas surprise. But it makes it difficult to plan travel, etc. I won't be traveling far this year, just a 30 minute bus ride away to a friends house. We will make Christmas cookies, watch movies and sing Christmas carols together. Delightful.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
World AIDS Day
Today is World AIDS Day. The DAC office is hosting (maybe sponsoring?) 2 events in the district - one at the prison and one in a town about 25 minutes down the tarmac road. I say that maybe we are funding the events because, as of today we still have not received the money to cover the function from the national office. Each district is doing its own thing to fund (or maybe not fund) WAD events. Here in Thyolo the District Assembly loaned us the money and we will pay them back as soon as we receive the money.
I decided to attend the function at the prison since I didn't think I'd really be any help at all at the other event since there were so many people going already. The event was scheduled to start at 9:30 am with a Solidarity Walk (similar to a 5k or other walk but much shorter - maybe 1/4 mile). But, most events here don't start on time so we eventually began the walk at 10:30 am. It was really good: people held signs up talking about this year's theme: Universal Access and they were singing songs about getting tested and taking ARVs. Then we made our way into the prison.
I feel that I should describe the prison first before I talk about the function. It is a small white building bordered (but only in the front) by a flimsy barbed wire fence. It's near where I work and in fact I walk by it every day. This was my first time to go inside though. I was told by one of the officers that there are currently 172 prisoners - 2 women and the rest men. The 2 women were able to sit on a bench on the porch of the prison because they were only 2 and there isn't a women's ward. The men on the other hand were all crammed into 5 cells - meaning about 35 men lived in each cell. I don't know the area of the rooms, but I'm sure they either slept right next to each other or on top of each other. Not very sanitary or mentally helpful.
I asked the prison HIV/AIDS Coordinator if they were thinking of expanding the prison but she said that due to lack of funds that would probably not happen. I was also told that there are only 2 bathrooms and 2 showers for all 170 men. I asked if they were given food and she said yes, but only once and day and it was probably just nsima (a paste made from corn flour and water) and beans. She said that sometimes the families of the prisoners brought them food, but they'd have to travel to the prison and sometimes they lived very far away or they might not have the money to buy food.
The 5 cells are spread out around a small open air courtyard. Some prisoners spend their whole sentence (months or years) in that small space and are never allowed to leave. Other prisoners who have almost finished their sentences are allowed to leave the prison to do manual labor for other government offices or officials. (For example, a group of prisoners came a month ago and chopped down some trees in the District Commissioner's yard - also my yard.) So they live a very hard and very confined life.
After the Solidarity Walk we went to the prison where the function was to take place. There was a giant tarp spread out on the ground of the court yard for the prisoners to sit on and chairs set up for the invited guests (i.e. the important government officials and village chiefs). Although it is the rainy season, it hasn't rained in a few days so it was HOT. This was especially true in the sun where all of the prisoners were sitting. No one complained though and they really seemed to have a good time despite the sun beating down on them.
There were speeches discussing this year's theme - some people talked about getting tested, others talked about taking ARVs if you are positive, others talked about getting tested with your partner. Very good stuff. There were also several sketches, songs and comedy routines all talking about this year's theme. Two people gave testimonials, but since it was all in Chichewa I don't really know what they talked about, but I'm assuming it had something to do with how HIV affected their lives.
The function was over by 1pm and as the invited guests left, the hired DJ played music for them so they could dance. During the entire function, staff members from the district hospital were providing HIV testing for the prisoners. I asked if they could get tested whenever they wanted and was told that they could, provided there was an officer available to escort them to the hospital to get tested. In her speech, the head officer at the prison asked the hospital to provide them with a trained counselor on a regular basis so that all prisoners who wanted to get tested would be able to.
I'm really glad that I was able to attend this event and that I was able to learn what life was like for prisoners here in Thyolo. The request for HIV counselors and testing got me thinking that maybe the DAC and I could find some way to train counselors for the prison, maybe members of the prison staff. I asked the prison HIV/AIDS Coordinator about the training and she told me it was 3 weeks long - shortened from 6 weeks. Wow, that's a long training and an expensive one, especially if the trainees get per diem. But maybe we could find some money somewhere. I also thought about the fact that so many of the speeches stressed the importance of proper nutrition but most of the prisoners only ate one meal a day. There are some organizations here in Malawi that provide food for school children, maybe they'd be interested in starting a program with the prison.
I decided to attend the function at the prison since I didn't think I'd really be any help at all at the other event since there were so many people going already. The event was scheduled to start at 9:30 am with a Solidarity Walk (similar to a 5k or other walk but much shorter - maybe 1/4 mile). But, most events here don't start on time so we eventually began the walk at 10:30 am. It was really good: people held signs up talking about this year's theme: Universal Access and they were singing songs about getting tested and taking ARVs. Then we made our way into the prison.
I feel that I should describe the prison first before I talk about the function. It is a small white building bordered (but only in the front) by a flimsy barbed wire fence. It's near where I work and in fact I walk by it every day. This was my first time to go inside though. I was told by one of the officers that there are currently 172 prisoners - 2 women and the rest men. The 2 women were able to sit on a bench on the porch of the prison because they were only 2 and there isn't a women's ward. The men on the other hand were all crammed into 5 cells - meaning about 35 men lived in each cell. I don't know the area of the rooms, but I'm sure they either slept right next to each other or on top of each other. Not very sanitary or mentally helpful.
I asked the prison HIV/AIDS Coordinator if they were thinking of expanding the prison but she said that due to lack of funds that would probably not happen. I was also told that there are only 2 bathrooms and 2 showers for all 170 men. I asked if they were given food and she said yes, but only once and day and it was probably just nsima (a paste made from corn flour and water) and beans. She said that sometimes the families of the prisoners brought them food, but they'd have to travel to the prison and sometimes they lived very far away or they might not have the money to buy food.
The 5 cells are spread out around a small open air courtyard. Some prisoners spend their whole sentence (months or years) in that small space and are never allowed to leave. Other prisoners who have almost finished their sentences are allowed to leave the prison to do manual labor for other government offices or officials. (For example, a group of prisoners came a month ago and chopped down some trees in the District Commissioner's yard - also my yard.) So they live a very hard and very confined life.
After the Solidarity Walk we went to the prison where the function was to take place. There was a giant tarp spread out on the ground of the court yard for the prisoners to sit on and chairs set up for the invited guests (i.e. the important government officials and village chiefs). Although it is the rainy season, it hasn't rained in a few days so it was HOT. This was especially true in the sun where all of the prisoners were sitting. No one complained though and they really seemed to have a good time despite the sun beating down on them.
There were speeches discussing this year's theme - some people talked about getting tested, others talked about taking ARVs if you are positive, others talked about getting tested with your partner. Very good stuff. There were also several sketches, songs and comedy routines all talking about this year's theme. Two people gave testimonials, but since it was all in Chichewa I don't really know what they talked about, but I'm assuming it had something to do with how HIV affected their lives.
The function was over by 1pm and as the invited guests left, the hired DJ played music for them so they could dance. During the entire function, staff members from the district hospital were providing HIV testing for the prisoners. I asked if they could get tested whenever they wanted and was told that they could, provided there was an officer available to escort them to the hospital to get tested. In her speech, the head officer at the prison asked the hospital to provide them with a trained counselor on a regular basis so that all prisoners who wanted to get tested would be able to.
I'm really glad that I was able to attend this event and that I was able to learn what life was like for prisoners here in Thyolo. The request for HIV counselors and testing got me thinking that maybe the DAC and I could find some way to train counselors for the prison, maybe members of the prison staff. I asked the prison HIV/AIDS Coordinator about the training and she told me it was 3 weeks long - shortened from 6 weeks. Wow, that's a long training and an expensive one, especially if the trainees get per diem. But maybe we could find some money somewhere. I also thought about the fact that so many of the speeches stressed the importance of proper nutrition but most of the prisoners only ate one meal a day. There are some organizations here in Malawi that provide food for school children, maybe they'd be interested in starting a program with the prison.
Monday, November 23, 2009
World AIDS Day Planning
The past few weeks have been focused on planning the World AIDS Day (WAD) events here in Thyolo District. We started planning at the beginning of this month and will hold the activities on December 1st. Although it is a worldwide event and most occur on December 1st, sometimes due to the arrival of funding, people's schedules, etc, the events are held after December 1st. And, I learned here in Malawi that WAD is actually the start of a year-long series of events (if money and time allow) to commemorate that particular year's theme. So WAD actually goes from December 1st of one year to November 30th of the following year. This year's theme is universal access to testing, care and ARVs.
Unfortunately, at least here in Thyolo, the only variation in the planning activities is the theme, the rest of the event is the same. Since the DAC office has not received funding from the national office (or maybe this doesn't even matter) in a year and a half, we are using the budget and format for the WAD event planned for last year. As far as I know, the event actually did occur last year. In any case, the national office has issued a checklist to each of the districts in the country with the activities that should occur in their respective WAD events. So, like all the other districts we will have traditional singing and dancing, skits, poetry, speeches from invited guests - all related to this year's theme.
One of the largest portions of the budget for this event and most other events, training, etc is that set aside for allowances (or per diem). So, for our WAD event we will be inviting important guests such as the Members of Parliament for each of the 5 constituencies in the district, the village headmen, the traditional authorities and the chiefs. We will pay them an allowance to attend and will also ensure that they have the best seats and get the best food.
We will be holding 2 events on December 1st, and possibly 2 or 3 more later in December, January or maybe not at all. The 2 events on WAD will be held at a town about 10 minutes drive from the town proper and at the district prison. Since it is the rainy season we will be borrowing some large tents (like the kind they use for weddings and other outdoor events) to protect the performers and the invited guests. Unfortunately the area where we will hold the event in the prison is too small to comfortable contain a tent, so if it rains I guess that we will just have to (hopefully) postpone.
Other than WAD, I'm still slowly working on the grant for the nutrition training. Hopefully I can get it submitted and approved by mid-December. We want to hold the training the last week of January and the first week of February of next year.
There was a reseach dissemination day (similar to the internship conference at the College of Public Health) this past Saturday. I was surprisingly really excited to go. I didn't realize how much I enjoy research, statistics and data until I came here and started working on this grant. The idea behind the day was that so many government and NGO employees working in Thyolo attend national and international conference where they share research and data gathered in the district. This information is rarely shared on a local level, so the District Health Officer and one of the doctors at MSF decided to create a forum to share such information. It was really interesting and nice to learn what other people are doing in the district.
Unfortunately, at least here in Thyolo, the only variation in the planning activities is the theme, the rest of the event is the same. Since the DAC office has not received funding from the national office (or maybe this doesn't even matter) in a year and a half, we are using the budget and format for the WAD event planned for last year. As far as I know, the event actually did occur last year. In any case, the national office has issued a checklist to each of the districts in the country with the activities that should occur in their respective WAD events. So, like all the other districts we will have traditional singing and dancing, skits, poetry, speeches from invited guests - all related to this year's theme.
One of the largest portions of the budget for this event and most other events, training, etc is that set aside for allowances (or per diem). So, for our WAD event we will be inviting important guests such as the Members of Parliament for each of the 5 constituencies in the district, the village headmen, the traditional authorities and the chiefs. We will pay them an allowance to attend and will also ensure that they have the best seats and get the best food.
We will be holding 2 events on December 1st, and possibly 2 or 3 more later in December, January or maybe not at all. The 2 events on WAD will be held at a town about 10 minutes drive from the town proper and at the district prison. Since it is the rainy season we will be borrowing some large tents (like the kind they use for weddings and other outdoor events) to protect the performers and the invited guests. Unfortunately the area where we will hold the event in the prison is too small to comfortable contain a tent, so if it rains I guess that we will just have to (hopefully) postpone.
Other than WAD, I'm still slowly working on the grant for the nutrition training. Hopefully I can get it submitted and approved by mid-December. We want to hold the training the last week of January and the first week of February of next year.
There was a reseach dissemination day (similar to the internship conference at the College of Public Health) this past Saturday. I was surprisingly really excited to go. I didn't realize how much I enjoy research, statistics and data until I came here and started working on this grant. The idea behind the day was that so many government and NGO employees working in Thyolo attend national and international conference where they share research and data gathered in the district. This information is rarely shared on a local level, so the District Health Officer and one of the doctors at MSF decided to create a forum to share such information. It was really interesting and nice to learn what other people are doing in the district.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A day in the life
A few people have asked about my daily life here so I thought I'd just write it in my blog. I just want to give a disclaimer though: this is only my life, it is not the life of a typical Malawian because I am both wealthy (here, anyway) and white.
I wake up at 5 am to Lucy running circles around my mosquito net. I don't let her inside the net with me because she would attack me all night long. It's just getting light outside and the sun shines bright pink and yellow above the perpetual fog that appears every morning here in Thyolo. I get up and walk out the door to go on a walk through the hills and tea estates that surround my house. I stop first to pick up a rock to threaten my landlord's dogs because otherwise they would surround me barking.
My walk can either be peaceful or a lot of mental work. It's beautiful here so it's always relaxing to wander the dirt roads passing by brick houses and corn fields. However, I am white so I stick out like a sore thumb. The word for white person in Chichewa (the language spoken in most of Malawi) is mzungu. So the children stand at the side of the road staring or waving and shouting mzungu! mzungu! Older people will ask "Mwaduzka bwanji?" which means "How did you wake up?" and I reply "Ndazuka bwino, kaya inu?" which means "I woke up well, how about you?" to which they would reply "Ndazuka bwino". Sometimes, there are a lot of people so I have to greet lots of people or else just say "Zikomo" which means many things, among them "thank you", "excuse me" and I guess "hi".
After my walk I make breakfast which is not very Malawian but an idea I got from a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. I make warm chocolate milk and then soak a bun in it (they call it an "Obama" I don't know why. There are also buns called "Bin ladens" because they're really hard to find). I used to each a porridge called likuni phala made from soybeans, peanuts, beans and corn. But the chocolate milk and bread is so much better. Anyway likuni phala is often used with nutritional rehabilitation for children and PLWHAs.
After breakfast I take a shower using a bucket and a cup to pour water on myself. I have a bathtub but often the water isn't working. Sometimes I don't have water for days at a time. My landlord's wife told me it was really bad last year and there was one time when they didn't have water for 3 months. It's been fairly reliable recently (knock on wood). Also sometimes the electricity goes out, like it did last night. Then if i want to eat I have to use a small metal stove and cook with charcoal (which is illegal here by the way because of the impact on the environment, but what are people supposed to do for cooking when there is no wood?)
Then I go to work. If there is no electricity it is a little harder since a lot of my work now involves computers. If there is electricity I might go to the computer room at the Assembly (yes we have one!) and check e-mail. Or I'll go to the District AIDS Coordinator office and wait for my counterpart to show up. I made a calendar for us to use last week. The idea is we'll use it to let each other know what our plans our and if we plan on going out of town. I wasn't sure if he would like it but he loved it and called it "best practice". I thought he might just be humoring me but when I went into the office yesterday he had written his schedule for this week into the calendar. Sometimes I go to meetings either with the nurses at the hospital to plan the nutrition training or with the District AIDS Coordinating Committee to plan World AIDS Day or with the statisticians at MSF to gather data for the grant proposal.
I go for lunch around 12. If I need to buy food then I just go over to the open air market down the road. Some vendors have stalls, some sell on the ground (I suppose it has something to do with what they can afford). There are people who just sell vegetables; people who sell meat; people who sell home goods like candles, soap, lotion, matches, sugar, batteries; people who sell clothes; people who sell sheets, table cloths and curtains; people who sell shoes; people who sell plastic ware like buckets, plates and cups. It's a small market and I have my favorite vendors for different items so I usually go to them and haggle to get a good price. Sometimes they give you a "prize" at the end like an extra tomato or bun because you are a good customer or they want you to become one.
Then I go home to make lunch on my hot plate. After I go back to work around 2pm and do one of the activities I mentioned above. Sometimes I have Chichewa lessons so I have to take a minibus (a 16-passenger van that is usually packed to more than full capacity) 5 minutes away to Thyolo Secondary School. We meet in one of the classrooms: a mid-sized room with windows in a larger concrete building. Thyolo Secondary School is actually a nice school (I think built with outside funding), but I think the schools here are generally better than the ones in Togo. Bigger, cleaner, better stocked.
I usually go home around 5pm. I've been just making dinner and reading in my house, but it's getting lonely just talking to a cat. So I have the number for my landlord's wife and if I want to hang out with them I'll just call her and she'll send someone to come get me. All of this would not be necessary if they didn't have the 5 beasts of the apocolypse they call dogs. I typically go to bed around 9 or 10pm.
Weekends are a little different. I do laundry on Sundays, visit friends, stroll around the market, go to Blantyre. But that's basically my life here.
I wake up at 5 am to Lucy running circles around my mosquito net. I don't let her inside the net with me because she would attack me all night long. It's just getting light outside and the sun shines bright pink and yellow above the perpetual fog that appears every morning here in Thyolo. I get up and walk out the door to go on a walk through the hills and tea estates that surround my house. I stop first to pick up a rock to threaten my landlord's dogs because otherwise they would surround me barking.
My walk can either be peaceful or a lot of mental work. It's beautiful here so it's always relaxing to wander the dirt roads passing by brick houses and corn fields. However, I am white so I stick out like a sore thumb. The word for white person in Chichewa (the language spoken in most of Malawi) is mzungu. So the children stand at the side of the road staring or waving and shouting mzungu! mzungu! Older people will ask "Mwaduzka bwanji?" which means "How did you wake up?" and I reply "Ndazuka bwino, kaya inu?" which means "I woke up well, how about you?" to which they would reply "Ndazuka bwino". Sometimes, there are a lot of people so I have to greet lots of people or else just say "Zikomo" which means many things, among them "thank you", "excuse me" and I guess "hi".
After my walk I make breakfast which is not very Malawian but an idea I got from a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. I make warm chocolate milk and then soak a bun in it (they call it an "Obama" I don't know why. There are also buns called "Bin ladens" because they're really hard to find). I used to each a porridge called likuni phala made from soybeans, peanuts, beans and corn. But the chocolate milk and bread is so much better. Anyway likuni phala is often used with nutritional rehabilitation for children and PLWHAs.
After breakfast I take a shower using a bucket and a cup to pour water on myself. I have a bathtub but often the water isn't working. Sometimes I don't have water for days at a time. My landlord's wife told me it was really bad last year and there was one time when they didn't have water for 3 months. It's been fairly reliable recently (knock on wood). Also sometimes the electricity goes out, like it did last night. Then if i want to eat I have to use a small metal stove and cook with charcoal (which is illegal here by the way because of the impact on the environment, but what are people supposed to do for cooking when there is no wood?)
Then I go to work. If there is no electricity it is a little harder since a lot of my work now involves computers. If there is electricity I might go to the computer room at the Assembly (yes we have one!) and check e-mail. Or I'll go to the District AIDS Coordinator office and wait for my counterpart to show up. I made a calendar for us to use last week. The idea is we'll use it to let each other know what our plans our and if we plan on going out of town. I wasn't sure if he would like it but he loved it and called it "best practice". I thought he might just be humoring me but when I went into the office yesterday he had written his schedule for this week into the calendar. Sometimes I go to meetings either with the nurses at the hospital to plan the nutrition training or with the District AIDS Coordinating Committee to plan World AIDS Day or with the statisticians at MSF to gather data for the grant proposal.
I go for lunch around 12. If I need to buy food then I just go over to the open air market down the road. Some vendors have stalls, some sell on the ground (I suppose it has something to do with what they can afford). There are people who just sell vegetables; people who sell meat; people who sell home goods like candles, soap, lotion, matches, sugar, batteries; people who sell clothes; people who sell sheets, table cloths and curtains; people who sell shoes; people who sell plastic ware like buckets, plates and cups. It's a small market and I have my favorite vendors for different items so I usually go to them and haggle to get a good price. Sometimes they give you a "prize" at the end like an extra tomato or bun because you are a good customer or they want you to become one.
Then I go home to make lunch on my hot plate. After I go back to work around 2pm and do one of the activities I mentioned above. Sometimes I have Chichewa lessons so I have to take a minibus (a 16-passenger van that is usually packed to more than full capacity) 5 minutes away to Thyolo Secondary School. We meet in one of the classrooms: a mid-sized room with windows in a larger concrete building. Thyolo Secondary School is actually a nice school (I think built with outside funding), but I think the schools here are generally better than the ones in Togo. Bigger, cleaner, better stocked.
I usually go home around 5pm. I've been just making dinner and reading in my house, but it's getting lonely just talking to a cat. So I have the number for my landlord's wife and if I want to hang out with them I'll just call her and she'll send someone to come get me. All of this would not be necessary if they didn't have the 5 beasts of the apocolypse they call dogs. I typically go to bed around 9 or 10pm.
Weekends are a little different. I do laundry on Sundays, visit friends, stroll around the market, go to Blantyre. But that's basically my life here.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
I spent most of last week trying to collect data from different sources: the district hospital, MSF and the assembly. Finally today I have most of what I need, or at least all of what is available. Data is not collected here in Malawi with the same amount of vigor or vigilance as it is in the states. For some indicators I only have data for certain years because they only just started collecting the information or they stopped collecting it after a while. But hopefully I will have enough data to create the most accurate health profile possible for the district.
I had my first Chichewa lesson last week. It was pretty good: my instructor is really enthusiastic and patient, although he can go off on tangents at times. I did learn a little more, which is a positive sign. I just can't seem to keep any new Chichewa in my head, but I think it's because I'm not practicing. Hopefully he'll make me start practicing so that I can actually begin to speak the language.
I met up with a couple of Peace Corps Volunteers (the ones who are here for 2 years) on Saturday. One of the girls lives in a village where she can only get cell phone reception if she stands on a rock, she has to ride in a broken down bush taxi for 3 hours to get to the nearest big city, sometimes the only vegetables she can find in her market are tomatoes and onions and she doesn't have electricity or running water. I remember that life. It's interesting that we come here and "rough it" for 2 years without all of these comforts we just expected to have in the states, but we can leave. The people we leave behind have to continue living that exact same life long after we've gone back to hot showers and 24-hour supermarkets filled with every food you could imagine. So the dilemma is how to improve the lives of the people we leave behind.
I had my first Chichewa lesson last week. It was pretty good: my instructor is really enthusiastic and patient, although he can go off on tangents at times. I did learn a little more, which is a positive sign. I just can't seem to keep any new Chichewa in my head, but I think it's because I'm not practicing. Hopefully he'll make me start practicing so that I can actually begin to speak the language.
I met up with a couple of Peace Corps Volunteers (the ones who are here for 2 years) on Saturday. One of the girls lives in a village where she can only get cell phone reception if she stands on a rock, she has to ride in a broken down bush taxi for 3 hours to get to the nearest big city, sometimes the only vegetables she can find in her market are tomatoes and onions and she doesn't have electricity or running water. I remember that life. It's interesting that we come here and "rough it" for 2 years without all of these comforts we just expected to have in the states, but we can leave. The people we leave behind have to continue living that exact same life long after we've gone back to hot showers and 24-hour supermarkets filled with every food you could imagine. So the dilemma is how to improve the lives of the people we leave behind.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Weekly Update
The past week has been fairly calm. There was another nutrition training planning meetiing last Friday where we made some more definite plans. We decided to postpone the training until the end of January since two of the trainers will be taking leave in December and the beginning of January. Also World AIDS Day and Christmas would make it difficult to plan a training in December. We've also created a detailed budget and come up with a venue. So, things are slowly falling into place.
The first World AIDS Day planning meeting will be held this Thursday. I asked the DAC who was supposed to organize the meetings and he said our office. He seemed surprised that I would even ask. I guess I'm just confused as to what he really does and what the office is supposed to do. Hopefully I'll figure it out before I leave.
I went to a traditional dancing event this past Sunday. To be honest, I really just went to see my friend Immaculate who was down from college in Mzuzu. I haven't seen her since the end of September when she left for the new trimester. Unfortunately I wasn't able to run into her since there were so many people there and there was not cell phone reception. But, the Lomwe tribe, of which the current president is a member, created a group last year to preserve their cultural heritage. I was told that the Lomwe people are from the south but with the creation of the tea estates a lot of people from the northern part of the country moved south to work. Many people spoke Chichewa and eventually the Lomwe language started to die out. Now only grandparents speak the language. So, the cultural preservation group decided to start a school where they would teach the Lomwe language and customs. The event on Sunday was a celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the group.
I now have a Chichewa language teacher. I asked my friend Blessings who used to be a teacher at Thyolo Secondary School to recommend a Chichewa teacher for me (they teach Chichewa and English in the schools here). It was a very quick turnaround since I only asked him yesterday and the teacher stopped by my office today. Hopefully we can start lessons this week. I tried just learning by talking to people but that's not the way that I learn. Also my new teacher was thrilled to learn that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer because he has already worked with three other volunteers in the past.
The first World AIDS Day planning meeting will be held this Thursday. I asked the DAC who was supposed to organize the meetings and he said our office. He seemed surprised that I would even ask. I guess I'm just confused as to what he really does and what the office is supposed to do. Hopefully I'll figure it out before I leave.
I went to a traditional dancing event this past Sunday. To be honest, I really just went to see my friend Immaculate who was down from college in Mzuzu. I haven't seen her since the end of September when she left for the new trimester. Unfortunately I wasn't able to run into her since there were so many people there and there was not cell phone reception. But, the Lomwe tribe, of which the current president is a member, created a group last year to preserve their cultural heritage. I was told that the Lomwe people are from the south but with the creation of the tea estates a lot of people from the northern part of the country moved south to work. Many people spoke Chichewa and eventually the Lomwe language started to die out. Now only grandparents speak the language. So, the cultural preservation group decided to start a school where they would teach the Lomwe language and customs. The event on Sunday was a celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the group.
I now have a Chichewa language teacher. I asked my friend Blessings who used to be a teacher at Thyolo Secondary School to recommend a Chichewa teacher for me (they teach Chichewa and English in the schools here). It was a very quick turnaround since I only asked him yesterday and the teacher stopped by my office today. Hopefully we can start lessons this week. I tried just learning by talking to people but that's not the way that I learn. Also my new teacher was thrilled to learn that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer because he has already worked with three other volunteers in the past.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Lucy and Lake of Stars
Lucy had a big scare this past weekend. I left her in by bathroom and asked my landlord to check on her and feed her. Saturday night she fell in the toilet and she wasn't pulled out until Sunday morning when my landlord went to feed her. Poor kitten! She spent the night in the cold water trying to escape but was too tiny to leave. My landlord put her in the sun to help her warm up and tried to get her to eat but she wasn't interested. She's a lot better now and is eating and drinking a little. Hopefully she's too afraid of the toilet and water to jump in it any more.
In happier news, Lake of Stars was amazing. Lots of fantastic music and fun dancing. The Black Missionaries were just great: such an energetic show. There was an artist from the UK named Sway who was pretty good, but he talked too much and mostly it was about himself. Then there were just a bunch of DJs. It was fun dancing music but I liked the live music better. The beach was great, very relaxing.
In happier news, Lake of Stars was amazing. Lots of fantastic music and fun dancing. The Black Missionaries were just great: such an energetic show. There was an artist from the UK named Sway who was pretty good, but he talked too much and mostly it was about himself. Then there were just a bunch of DJs. It was fun dancing music but I liked the live music better. The beach was great, very relaxing.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Update
The nutrition training preparation is going well. Four of the nurses from both the hospital and MSF came for a planning meeting on Friday. We decided on tentative dates for the training (the 1st and 3rd weeks of December - which could be a problem because of World AIDS Day). Two of the nurses are also certified trainers of nutrition education so that means that we already have trainers as well as a curriculum. Preparing the budget has been a little difficult since in theory the community should contribute to at least 10% of the total cost, but this isn't necessary. So I'm sure we can work around it. We also have a venue (a Catholic church with a reception hall) and there are about 24 nurses who will be trained in all. I've been working on the application form and trying to get some statistics from both the hospital and MSF. So many people have left this week though, which makes me glad that we were able to have the meeting last week.
In other news, at least in Europe and Africa Mother's Day will be this Thursday. So that will be a holiday from work. I'll be visiting my friend Lisa in Ntcheu and then we'll be going to a music festival in Mangochi. It's called Lake of Stars (because it's always on Lake Malawi and there are famous (?) musicians). I'm really excited to go and listen to some great music. There will be at least one group from Malawi (Black Missionaries), hopefully more.
I've named my cat Lucy after "I Love Lucy". She is hilarious, just like the actress and plus I love the name. She's still crazy - sometimes she just runs laps around the house for no reason. She's getting fatter though, which is good because she was really small when I got her 2 weeks ago.
There was a District AIDS Coordination Committee (DACC) metting yesterday with the main objective of planning World AIDS Day. We decided to create a planning committee and wanted to only have 10 people. But then some people decided that representatives from departments like police and monitoring and evaluation should be included. Oddly, no one mentioned the District AIDS Coordinator's office. Maybe I there's something I don't understand (i.e. the office might not be good at planning or securing funding ) but I thought that would be the first department named. So I did and I think I'm the representative. I'm actually really glad to be on the committee because one of the tasks is securing funding. So maybe we can research grants or use some of the ones that Peace Corps can provide. In any case, the DACC decided to stop sitting around waiting for funding from the National AIDS Commission because it usually doesn't come on time if at all.
It rained for the first time last week. It was really nice to smell the wet dirt here in Africa again. I don't know what it is, but there's a certain post-rain smell here that I've never experienced anywhere else. I guess the rainy season might have started, or it might have just been a freak storm.
Oh, I attended an interesting meeting on climate change last week. For at least half of the meeting we debated whether or not there was climate change. Then someone said that if we agreed that climate change did not exist then there was no point to having the meeting and we should just leave. Finally, people agreed that there was, indeed, climate change and that someone should make some laws about it. Then the meeting ended. I asked the meeting facilitator afterwards what he would do with the notes from the meeting. He said that he would send them to the national environmental office (or something like that) and that they would compile them and maybe make some decisions or laws.
In other news, at least in Europe and Africa Mother's Day will be this Thursday. So that will be a holiday from work. I'll be visiting my friend Lisa in Ntcheu and then we'll be going to a music festival in Mangochi. It's called Lake of Stars (because it's always on Lake Malawi and there are famous (?) musicians). I'm really excited to go and listen to some great music. There will be at least one group from Malawi (Black Missionaries), hopefully more.
I've named my cat Lucy after "I Love Lucy". She is hilarious, just like the actress and plus I love the name. She's still crazy - sometimes she just runs laps around the house for no reason. She's getting fatter though, which is good because she was really small when I got her 2 weeks ago.
There was a District AIDS Coordination Committee (DACC) metting yesterday with the main objective of planning World AIDS Day. We decided to create a planning committee and wanted to only have 10 people. But then some people decided that representatives from departments like police and monitoring and evaluation should be included. Oddly, no one mentioned the District AIDS Coordinator's office. Maybe I there's something I don't understand (i.e. the office might not be good at planning or securing funding ) but I thought that would be the first department named. So I did and I think I'm the representative. I'm actually really glad to be on the committee because one of the tasks is securing funding. So maybe we can research grants or use some of the ones that Peace Corps can provide. In any case, the DACC decided to stop sitting around waiting for funding from the National AIDS Commission because it usually doesn't come on time if at all.
It rained for the first time last week. It was really nice to smell the wet dirt here in Africa again. I don't know what it is, but there's a certain post-rain smell here that I've never experienced anywhere else. I guess the rainy season might have started, or it might have just been a freak storm.
Oh, I attended an interesting meeting on climate change last week. For at least half of the meeting we debated whether or not there was climate change. Then someone said that if we agreed that climate change did not exist then there was no point to having the meeting and we should just leave. Finally, people agreed that there was, indeed, climate change and that someone should make some laws about it. Then the meeting ended. I asked the meeting facilitator afterwards what he would do with the notes from the meeting. He said that he would send them to the national environmental office (or something like that) and that they would compile them and maybe make some decisions or laws.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Projects
The internet has been out at the District Assembly for the past two weeks, so that's the reason for the delay in the posting. I'm in Lilongwe now trying to get some work done. One of the things I'm trying to do is get some funding for the nutrition education training project I mentioned in my last post. My boss at Peace Corps was really receptive and seemed to think it'd be fairly simple to receive funding for the project. He's really ambitious and thinks we could have everything ready to do the training by mid-November. I'm thinking it probably won't happen until December or January. But it will happen and that's all that matters.
I have a cat now, I got her last weekend. She's a bit small, maybe too small but she'll survive. She's 5-6 weeks old and I was really worried the first night because she refused to eat and she just kept crying. Finally after force-feeding her (sorry Amy) every few hours she finally started to eat and now won't stop. She's ridiculous: she doesn't know what shadows are and tries to attack them, she falls over sometimes for no reason and she climbs up my legs if I'm wearing pants and then cries when she gets stuck halfway. Silly cat.
I've made some more friends at the Assembly since my friend Immaculate went north to Mzuzu for college. They're mostly guys (in fact, I think they all are), but that's not very surprising since most of the people who work at the Assembly are men. We talk about life and make jokes (sarcasm, unfortunately is not as appreciated here as it is in the U.S.).
It's getting a little warmer in Thyolo but not as warm as it is here in Lilongwe or even Blantyre. The people who live in Thyolo say that it is usually pretty cool, even during the hot season. Well, at least compared to the rest of the country. So, I am relieved because the place where I lived in Togo got very, very, very hot. Sometimes it was hard to fall asleep at night.
I took some pictures and had every intention of putting them up on my blog since I have a fast internet connection here in the captial, but I forgot the gadget (don't know what it's called) for downloading them onto the computer. But I promise that I will put them up soon.
I have a cat now, I got her last weekend. She's a bit small, maybe too small but she'll survive. She's 5-6 weeks old and I was really worried the first night because she refused to eat and she just kept crying. Finally after force-feeding her (sorry Amy) every few hours she finally started to eat and now won't stop. She's ridiculous: she doesn't know what shadows are and tries to attack them, she falls over sometimes for no reason and she climbs up my legs if I'm wearing pants and then cries when she gets stuck halfway. Silly cat.
I've made some more friends at the Assembly since my friend Immaculate went north to Mzuzu for college. They're mostly guys (in fact, I think they all are), but that's not very surprising since most of the people who work at the Assembly are men. We talk about life and make jokes (sarcasm, unfortunately is not as appreciated here as it is in the U.S.).
It's getting a little warmer in Thyolo but not as warm as it is here in Lilongwe or even Blantyre. The people who live in Thyolo say that it is usually pretty cool, even during the hot season. Well, at least compared to the rest of the country. So, I am relieved because the place where I lived in Togo got very, very, very hot. Sometimes it was hard to fall asleep at night.
I took some pictures and had every intention of putting them up on my blog since I have a fast internet connection here in the captial, but I forgot the gadget (don't know what it's called) for downloading them onto the computer. But I promise that I will put them up soon.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
DAC
I finally had a formal meeting with the District AIDS Commissioner (DAC) who is my work counterpart. I'm glad that we had a chance to meet and discuss possible work plans for my year here. I learned that there has been no funding from the National AIDS Commission (NAC) in over a year and that funding is necessary to complete work. His job is to go into the field and monitor the various Community Based Organizations receiving funding and being monitored by his office. But you need funding to buy gasoline to drive the cars to the villages far away from the District Assembly. I also learned that you need money to hold meetings. If you want to invite all stakeholders to come then you need to provide the people who travel long distances with lunch and reimburse them for their travel. So, we decided to focus on the work that we can do with limited funding and try to look for grants from other sources to cover any monitoring activities that we might like to do. Also, the DAC mentioned that NAC might begin offering funding again in a few months.
I also met with the head Community Home-Based Care (CHBC) nurse at the hospital. They hold clinics in different towns and villages in the district where they mostly distribute medications to chronically ill patients (i.e. people with HIV, asthma, cancer, etc) so they don't have to come to the district hospital which can be far away and cost a lot of money. By the way, health care is FREE here - even ARVs. So, the work the CHBC nurses do is fantastic, but I wanted to know how I could help them and the nurse mentioned something about nutrition. I thought great! I'd love to do anything with nutrition. So she said that the nurses (23 in all) would like to receive training on how to determine if patients are undernourished and also to offer cooking demonstrations similar to the one I mentioned in my previous post. So I'm going to figure out how to plan something like that.
I also met with the head Community Home-Based Care (CHBC) nurse at the hospital. They hold clinics in different towns and villages in the district where they mostly distribute medications to chronically ill patients (i.e. people with HIV, asthma, cancer, etc) so they don't have to come to the district hospital which can be far away and cost a lot of money. By the way, health care is FREE here - even ARVs. So, the work the CHBC nurses do is fantastic, but I wanted to know how I could help them and the nurse mentioned something about nutrition. I thought great! I'd love to do anything with nutrition. So she said that the nurses (23 in all) would like to receive training on how to determine if patients are undernourished and also to offer cooking demonstrations similar to the one I mentioned in my previous post. So I'm going to figure out how to plan something like that.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
It has been a while since I posted so I thought I'd just give an update of the past 2 weeks. I've been visiting a lot of different groups (both governmental and non-governmental) in Thyolo District that somehow work with HIV/AIDS. I've been to a cooking demonstration that was just amazing. Most of the cooking demonstrations that I've been to before focused on how to prepare one dish using locally available foods. This cooking demonstration had the participants bring ingredients from their homes and the nurse who was instructing the group showed them how to prepare foods in ways they might not have thought to before. They made juice from cassava leaves, doughnuts from cassava flour and eggs, soy milk and tofu, lots of tasty sauces and even a fruit platter. It was amazing.
I also met with a doctor at Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders in the U.S.). He said that MSF is planning on leaving Thyolo District in 2013 and they are in the process of handing over control of the HIV project to the Ministry of Health here in the District. He said that he's been trying to collaborate with the District AIDS Commissioner (DAC), the person I am working with, but he has yet been able to. He said that it would be really helpful if I could be the liason between MSF and the DAC. It is a difficult task but hopefully I can make some headway in the year that I'm here.
In other news, I went to an engagement party last weekend. It was fun and interesting. There was a lot of dancing and everyone gave the couple money and kitchen stuff. People really wanted to go to it, too, there were bouncers and they were actually kicking people out.
Oh, I found a cat! It's still to young to take home but it's at the house of a friend. She said in a couple of weeks it would be old enough. Not only will it be a great pet, but it will also kill any mice or bugs that come into my house.
I also met with a doctor at Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders in the U.S.). He said that MSF is planning on leaving Thyolo District in 2013 and they are in the process of handing over control of the HIV project to the Ministry of Health here in the District. He said that he's been trying to collaborate with the District AIDS Commissioner (DAC), the person I am working with, but he has yet been able to. He said that it would be really helpful if I could be the liason between MSF and the DAC. It is a difficult task but hopefully I can make some headway in the year that I'm here.
In other news, I went to an engagement party last weekend. It was fun and interesting. There was a lot of dancing and everyone gave the couple money and kitchen stuff. People really wanted to go to it, too, there were bouncers and they were actually kicking people out.
Oh, I found a cat! It's still to young to take home but it's at the house of a friend. She said in a couple of weeks it would be old enough. Not only will it be a great pet, but it will also kill any mice or bugs that come into my house.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thyolo District Hospital
My meeting with the District Nursing Officer went really well. :) She asked me what my experience and qualifications were and then asked what kind of work I would like to do. How amazing that I can shape my job into what I really want to do. So I told her that I wanted to combine nutrition with HIV/AIDS work in some way. So there's a nutrition ward where they work with kids who are undernourished to do nutritional rehabilitation and also People Living with HIV (PLHIV). They also go to different towns and villages in the district to do cooking demontrations. I haven't started anything yet but it sounds fantastic. I go back tomorrow to solidify exactly what my position might be within the hospital.
After my meeting I went back to the District Assembly to speak with the Director of Planning and Development (DPD) since he was the one who set up the appointment for me. I told him how it went and he was happy that I found a place to work. My boss from the Peace Corps office will be coming for a site visit sometime this week so we'll see what he thinks about working with the hospital instead of with the District AIDS Commissioner (who is technically supposed to be my work counterpart).
After my meeting I went back to the District Assembly to speak with the Director of Planning and Development (DPD) since he was the one who set up the appointment for me. I told him how it went and he was happy that I found a place to work. My boss from the Peace Corps office will be coming for a site visit sometime this week so we'll see what he thinks about working with the hospital instead of with the District AIDS Commissioner (who is technically supposed to be my work counterpart).
Friday, August 28, 2009
Misc.
I have my last and final address change:
Rachel Kranch
C/O Thyolo District Assembly
Private Bag 5
Thyolo, Malawi
I attended a college graduation on Wednesday in Blantyre. It was for the College of Malawi and the President of Malawi, Dr. Bingu attended and delivered the commencement speech. I dressed up in a white shirt and a chitenje (cloth) with Dr. Bingu's messages on it - which is the uniform of the female civil servents. By working at the District Assembly, I am a civil servent.
We waited at the entrance to the college to greet the President and Vice President by dancing for them (well, I attempted to dance). Then we moved down to the soccer field where the graduation took place. The speeches were long, but interesting. The president and vice president of the college praised the Dr. Bingu for supported education but bemoaned the fact that once graduated, there was no work for their students. So they asked for his assistance. Dr. Bingu didn't really respond except to agree that it was a problem.
It was more of a spectacle than college graduations in the U.S. There were cirus tents and a red carpet for the President and all of the graduates. It was a great experience. I do have pictures and I will try to post them soon.
I have yet to officially start working. I do have a meeting with the District Nursing Officer this afternoon to discuss how I can combine my experience with nutrition, maternal and child health and HIV prevention with her office and the District Hospital. She seemed excited to have me come so hopefully I will have more news on that later.
Rachel Kranch
C/O Thyolo District Assembly
Private Bag 5
Thyolo, Malawi
I attended a college graduation on Wednesday in Blantyre. It was for the College of Malawi and the President of Malawi, Dr. Bingu attended and delivered the commencement speech. I dressed up in a white shirt and a chitenje (cloth) with Dr. Bingu's messages on it - which is the uniform of the female civil servents. By working at the District Assembly, I am a civil servent.
We waited at the entrance to the college to greet the President and Vice President by dancing for them (well, I attempted to dance). Then we moved down to the soccer field where the graduation took place. The speeches were long, but interesting. The president and vice president of the college praised the Dr. Bingu for supported education but bemoaned the fact that once graduated, there was no work for their students. So they asked for his assistance. Dr. Bingu didn't really respond except to agree that it was a problem.
It was more of a spectacle than college graduations in the U.S. There were cirus tents and a red carpet for the President and all of the graduates. It was a great experience. I do have pictures and I will try to post them soon.
I have yet to officially start working. I do have a meeting with the District Nursing Officer this afternoon to discuss how I can combine my experience with nutrition, maternal and child health and HIV prevention with her office and the District Hospital. She seemed excited to have me come so hopefully I will have more news on that later.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My new home
I moved into my new house in Thyolo on Friday. It's fantastic: a small guest house/cottage in the same compound as the District Commissioner who is like a mayor or a city manager (I can't remember which). It has a common room, a room with a toilet and a room with a bathtub and a sink. I even have a porch with flower boxes. I have electricity and running water at least once a day. Thyolo is in the tea estates area so I can see them from my house. In the mornings I can't see anything outside of my yard though due to all the fog.
I started my job yesterday but there wasn't much to do. The District doesn't have any money right now so there really aren't any activities going on. So I sat in the office chatting with a university student who is doing an internship with the District AIDS office. The District AIDS Commissioner is in today so I can find out what the volunteer I replaced did and what work I can do. I will post pictures when I have more time and figure out how to do it.
I started my job yesterday but there wasn't much to do. The District doesn't have any money right now so there really aren't any activities going on. So I sat in the office chatting with a university student who is doing an internship with the District AIDS office. The District AIDS Commissioner is in today so I can find out what the volunteer I replaced did and what work I can do. I will post pictures when I have more time and figure out how to do it.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Volunteers at Last : )
We swore-in as volunteers today at the U.S. Embassy in front of the Ambassador. High class. There were napkins embossed with the seal of the U.S. and there was a sign on the toilet lid that said that the toilet was not a place for storing important documents. Tomorrow we leave for our sites so I might not write on the blog for a while.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Phone Number
I have a cell phone now, so here's the number in case you want to call: 011 265 999 599 723. I'm here in Lilongwe through Thursday, possibly longer. There's good reception here, but I don't know about in Thyolo. I know that some phone companies allow for international texts, so try if you want. : )
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Updated address
The address that I first posted is just used with DHL and FedEx; I guess we were given it in case we got lost and needed to find the office since that is the physical address. Anyway, my address for the time being is:
Rachel Kranch
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 208
Lilongwe, Malawi
I might get another P.O. Box number once I move to Thyolo and I'll be sure to post it.
We're still in training learning about the health care system in Malawi and the government's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and focusing on our role in that response.
Rachel Kranch
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 208
Lilongwe, Malawi
I might get another P.O. Box number once I move to Thyolo and I'll be sure to post it.
We're still in training learning about the health care system in Malawi and the government's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and focusing on our role in that response.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Lost Luggage
My luggage finally arrived! It's in the airport locked in a room but it is here in Malawi. I went last night with my program supervisor to pick it up but the people with the keys to the locked room had gone home. We'll go back again today to pick it up. I think that I'll wear all of my clothes at once since I've been wearing the same 2 shirts for the past week. : ) I did borrow a shirt and some pants from another volunteer and felt so stylish because it was something different.
We're still doing training (it's only 2 1/2 weeks for the Peace Corps Response Volunteers instead of 2 1/2 months) in the capital Lilongwe. We learned about the health care system in Malawi yesterday. Not in good condition and many people don't have access to care, but at least anyone (even non-Malawians) receive free health care.
We're still doing training (it's only 2 1/2 weeks for the Peace Corps Response Volunteers instead of 2 1/2 months) in the capital Lilongwe. We learned about the health care system in Malawi yesterday. Not in good condition and many people don't have access to care, but at least anyone (even non-Malawians) receive free health care.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Thyolo
We just spent a few days in Dedza doing some language and cultural training. It was really interesting. It's so nice to be able to speak to people in English and to read the signs and know what they mean. The language training was Chichewa, which is spoken in the southern part of the country where we will be posted. The name of my town is Thyolo and it's where the tea plantations are and lots of fruit is grown. : ) So I'll be eating a lot of mangoes and papayas. Still no luggage.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Lilongwe
I'm in Malawi after a couple of delayed flights. Still no word on the luggage. Hopefully it will come soon.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Johannesburg Airport
Made it to South Africa. Almost missed my connecter flight to Johannesburg because the flight out of Tucson was delayed. They held the plane in Atlanta for this other flight so I was able to make it. I lost my laptop, it was probably stolen because I checked it. My other checked bags aren't here but hopefully they'll show up in Malawi. Other then the luggage issues, it's nice to be here. It's cold and Peace Corps put us up in a swanky hotel. Well that's all for now.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Departure
I will be going back to Africa on August 1st. Here is my address in Malawi for anyone who wants to write:
Peace Corps Malawi
Area 4 Plot 070
Murray Road, Old Town
Lilongwe
Malawi
Peace Corps Malawi
Area 4 Plot 070
Murray Road, Old Town
Lilongwe
Malawi
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